That rebuild math makes way more sense than gambling on someone else's problems, plus you know exactly what's in it now.

But is it really a slow burn if nothing meaningful changes, or is that just stalling? I think a lot of folks confuse "slow" with "detailed" and end up defending filler. That war story you mentioned sounds like it earned its fast pace because the author could give you a full character arc in two paragraphs instead of fifty. Meanwhile, the market fair thing sounds like someone fell in love with their own worldbuilding and forgot the story needs to move. A good rule I follow is simple: if you could skip ten chapters and not miss the point, that's not pacing, that's padding. When the world shifts under the characters' feet, even a quick scene feels heavy, and that's the balance that keeps me reading.

Always snap a chalk line off the rough opening before cutting anything.